Trunk Meat

Sometimes the perfect combination of words comes into your life at exactly the right moment and frames the context of your current situation. I was fortunate enough to have two such moments almost simultaneously and they’ve made me feel much more at ease with the me I’m becoming. Right before it was posted, Russell was explaining my Lamb Osso Bucco to a very good friend of mine. While hearing the details, she involuntarily blurted, “Kim is such a food-bitch!” Later that week, Russell and I were shopping for venison at T & H Prime Meats and Sausage, following it with lunch at Kinaly Thai Restaurant (both of which will be reviewed soon), and he observed in a very Dr. Seuss-like manner, “look at how happy you are, with your car trunk all full of meat and your belly all full of Thai.”

The sheer and simple honesty of both statements are still making me smile. They’ve also gotten my noodle noodling. Yours truly made a pledge to herself to lose ten pounds this year, but honestly… I think I would rather be a fat(ter), happier food-bitch than a thinner, perpetually-busy one. I mean, who are we kidding? I’m forty. The amount of fasting it would take to look thirty again would have me pushing Hindu numbers—and I’m a Baptist. However, the former’s idea about the third eye is actually very relevant to what’s been written above: For far too long, the mental preconception I’ve had of myself has looked at its outer counterpart and seen nothing worth liking.

That’s changing, or at least that’s what it feels like. Luckily, the ever-charitable Russell has given me a third quote to further solidify my newfound inner peace: “You’re a blogger, so it’s not like you have to be pretty. Everyone has opinions, but blogs are usually reserved for people way too ugly to be featured on television.”

Thanks, hun.

Not Your Momma’s Tuna Casserole

Fishy goodness.

1 lb pasta (any kind)

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp flour

3 cups milk

5–6 oz fontina, cut into chunks

2 cans tuna, drained

Salt & pepper

1 tbsp dried dill

1 shallot, minced

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup parmesan

1 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350˚. Cook pasta per package instructions, until al dente, drain and set aside. Melt butter over medium heat in large sauce pan. Whisk in flour and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in milk and continue whisking until sauce begins to thicken. Add cheese and stir until melted. Remove sauce from heat, add drained tuna, dill and shallot. Salt and pepper to taste. Add pasta and stir until well combined. Transfer to greased, 9×13 glass baking dish. Mix panko, parmesan and melted butter. Crumble over top of casserole. Bake for 25–30 minutes until topping in browned. Mushrooms, peas, green beans or any other veggie you find appealing would be a good addition to the recipe, but I kept this one fairly simple.

If nothing else, this post has given mankind a colloquialism worthy of Urban Dictionary: trunk meat. It’s either that special reward you get for coming to terms with your own shortcomings, or it’s a dead hooker. Hopefully, only one of those scenarios will ever apply to me. Trunk meat.

lol. my ex husband once told me that my dress was too small and made me look fat. he tried to play it off by saying YOU’RE not fat, the dress just makes it seem like you are. yeah. and when he gained 10 pounds i said NOTHING. i guess it’s a good thing we’re not together anymore because i have gotten the middle aged belly and actually DO look fat. (those fucking 3 pounds!).
but yes, trunk meat is hilarious.

Aw 🙂 I wasn’t fishing for compliments and I promise you that Russell thinks I’m pretty. As far as weight loss I’m not huge, yet, but I definitely weigh more than I like. Alas, I am a chick and we are all screwed up regarding our bodies anyway.